Dad Strength
Posts
Fine, Corinthian leather

Fine, Corinthian leather

Plus: Just take the damn compliment

Geoff Girvitz
July 10, 2025

Today on Dad Strength

Take the damn compliment
Young kids don’t care
Exercise for depression and anxiety
A book, a quote, a dad joke

Take the damn compliment

“On a scale of 1-10, how good are you at taking a compliment?”

That was the question I asked at the beginning of our most recent weekly call. Ratings varied. So did ideas around how to respond. The conversation that followed was tremendous. As rich as fine, Corinthian leather. More on that in a bit.

When in doubt, just say “Thank you.” It’s a great default response. No self-deprecation; no scrambling to piece together a compliment in return. You graciously accept. And, if it’s a real-deal type compliment, you chew on it for a while.

But what makes for a real-deal compliment in the first place? That was a longer discussion. Accuracy was obviously an important detail. Descriptiveness too. You can’t be vague. You can’t be generic. And you have to realize that a lot of people are borderline impervious to kind words. It’s like being thick-skinned — but in entirely the wrong way. So you have to construct an arrow sharp enough to penetrate that armour.

There’s also a special category of compliments worth mentioning. Still accurate and honest. Still descriptive and clear. But there’s a special detail: you use your own expertise or credibility to shed light on something that is going well — but in a place where the other person may lack clarity. Those ones can change the game for someone else.

Poll: On a scale of 1-10, how good are you at taking a compliment?

Get the Dad Strength Community Edition

Support Dad Strength for only $5/month AND get periodic bonus resources, like Power Statements for Parents.

Young kids don’t care

They really don’t care how effective an exercise is.

They care how fun it is.

So, when it comes to exercise and hustle mentality, maybe forget about optimization and focus on enjoyment.

If a kid doesn’t want to join you in the gym, is it because they need to locate the eye of the tiger? Or because because Han Solo looked like he had more fun being frozen in carbonite than you do when you’re working out?

“Come join me, Kylo! This is so awesome!”

Engaged dads benefit from support and community. Curious about our Tuesday calls? Start here.

Exercise for depression and anxiety

A systematic review with meta-analysis was published last month. The authors looked at the effect on exercise on depression and anxiety and stated that the data is strong enough to warrant the prescription of exercise for clinical symptoms.

Two things about that:

They do not state that exercise is the only thing you should do — but that it’s part of a comprehensive mental health program
There is no clear winner — from aerobic exercise to strength training. In other words, everything works, so just choose what you are most likely to be able to do. This will be from a combination of practical thinking and pure enjoyment.